


Family Reunion

by SumDood



Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avocato is alive, Avocato/Gary Goodspeed - Freeform, Everybody Lives, Family Feels, Gen, I've watched Avocato die so many times, Lord Commander is petty af, different ending to episode 6, there's some naughty words
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-20 13:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14262483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SumDood/pseuds/SumDood
Summary: SPOILER FOR SEASON 1, EPISODE 6Avocato doesn't die. After the prison break, Little Cato and the rest of the Galaxy One Crew get to know each other a bit better.





	1. Father and Son: Together Again

**Author's Note:**

> I love this show to death. I'm so glad that the fan-base is growing, Olan Rogers is such an amazing creator. R.I.P. Avocato (not in my story, haha...).  
> Anyways, enjoy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avocato lives!

The rain pattered down on the three escapees as they were hauled up to the Galaxy One. From the tether, Little Cato stared through furrowed brows towards his navy-blue pelted father. He dangled just above. No one noticed the small detonation device which glided (with the Lord Commander's influence) onto Little Cat's back.

When close enough to the Galaxy One, Avocato lifted himself into the ship's hangar bay. He helped Little Cato clamber aboard, carefully lifting up the teal-mohawked pre-teen. Gary, the blonde haired goof, followed Little Cato as the last to make it onto the ship. Said prisoner had barely dusted himself off, before he felt the ghost of a body dash past him. One of the S.A.M.E bots dove towards Little Cato. Before anyone could protest, the bot had swiped a beeping device from the kit’s back and slided out through the narrow gap of the closing cargo bay door. Everyone aboard blinked and turned to share confused glances. There was an loud mechanical click as the hangar bay door shut off the outside world from the Galaxy One Crew. They began to relax, and Mooncake floated over to Gary. 

"CHOO-"

The whole ship violently rocked at the boom of a not-too-far explosion. Avocato pulled his son into a protective embrace. The self-asserted leader of the Galaxy One Crew, Quinn, braced herself against a rail. Gary fell flat on his face, hitting the hard floor of the hangar bay. But nothing else happened when the ship steadied. It moved on, the vessel got farther away from the prison-planet. All the suspense had just about done it for Gary Goodspeed, who’d just peeled himself off the ground. The hyper man took the collective stunned silence as his que to say what everyone was thinking; "Okay...WHAT THE CRAP?! Why'd that S.A.M.E bot rough-up Little Cato and jump out the FREAKING SHIP?!". He gasped, "Are they suppo- ", he would have spewed a plethora of more questions had the ship's A.I. not intervened.

H.U.E.'s disembodied voice boomed over the hidden intercoms, "I assume you are asking me, Gary. To answer your question, I have run diagnostics. As you all know, especially you Avocato-". To this, the cat-man raises an eyebrow. H.U.E. contines, "the S.A.M.E.S have been programmed to deal with invaders and other immediate threats. After all, they are the ship's self-defence sys-".

An exasperated sigh came from the interior balcony. Gary, the Catos, and some of the S.A.M.E.S (who were very anxious to hear what H.U.E. had to say about them) looked over to Quinn, who ran a gloved hand down her espresso-colored face. She was caught off-guard by them looking at her, beady eyed. "What?", she asked whilst she jumped down to meet them. "I was listening. It's just been a long day is all.", she stated hasilty. Little Cato let out a playful scoff, at Quinn’s great understatement.

“If I may..."

"Please H.U.E., explain what happened.", it was Avocato this time. He had let go of Little Cato, but still stood very close to him.

“As I said before, the S.A.M.E.S ensure the survival of Gary. They are supposed to deter any danger, which is why they were built with a sensor for armed explosives. This way, that may dispose of it, or initiate a human-shielding mechanism." Some of the S.A.M.E.S cringed, silently mourning their lost comrade. The androids knew they weren’t built to just hang around the ship, but it still hurt...somehow.

“Are you saying that I had a b-"

"A bomb. I didn't notice that my son had a fucking bomb glued to his back!", Avocato screamed dejectedly. He balled his fists and glared at his feet.

Gary scooted closer to Avocado, giving him a comforting rub on the back. "Hey, man, don't beat up yourself up over it. Everything turned out fine, no, great even! We've got your son back. So what we needed a S.A.M.E. bot to kamikaze himself? It's a crisis averted, bro!". Gary searched his friend's face for any response. Avocato’s nose twitched.

“I should have known... This could have ended very badly, Gary.” He looked at his boy with remorse. "I'm sorry Little Cato-"; just as the older Cato began to brood, the younger, pumpkin-furred one shoved his chest.

“Don't start that Dad, this wasn't because of you, none of this was because of you!". Avocato watched wide-eyed, whilst Little Cato yelled. "This is because of that asshole Lord Commander, he's caused everything terrible to happen to us, so cut the crap, Dad!". There were fresh tears running now. They made brown, damp streaks down the alien-kitten's cheeks. Once again, Avocato pulled his son into an embrace, and stroked the back of his head. Little Cato sniffled for a bit before nodding that he was okay. “Just..don’t talk like you're a criminal”. 

"Your son's right Avocato." The cat-man’s ears perked up in response. Quinn felt a little awkward, since the last time she spoke to the bounty-hunter, he had bound her to a chair, all because she did not want to save Little Cato. However, she persisted, "If Lord Commander willed it, then there was no way you could've seen him plant that thing on him." She gestured to his puffy-eyed kid.

"Yeah... thank you, Quinn", Avocato only looked somewhat convinced as he focused on some random supply crates, rather than Quinn. At this, Little Cato gently removed his Dad's paw which had been resting on his shoulder, and hesitantly approached the stern-looking lady.

“Uh, we haven’t formally met yet…” Cato offered an outstretched paw. Quinn accepted it with a genuine smile. Both gave each other a once-over as they shook hands. Little Cato had not seen many prima- humans before. He’d not seen too many in the Lord Commander's prison, nor during his time before wrongful incarceration. To be fair though, he’d not seen too many creatures in general. This was primarily due to his imprisonment, and his father’s evil past. Looking at Quinn, Little Cato saw a strong (both in her physical appearance and her attitude), dark-skinned woman. He was a bit intimidated by her, but if his father trusted her, then Cato trusted her too.

Although Quinn had heard Avocato talk about “my boy”, and “my Little Cato”, she’d never expected him too be so small! The kid was pretty thin, though that can be expected after being held captive in a shitty prison for several years. He was probably malnourished. She was somewhat amused by the cat-kid’s tall mohawk and mini skirt. Not that the boy looked bad in a skirt; he had an overall pleasant appearance. Though she’d never admit out loud, Quinn found him to be kinda cute. Who could resist those tufts of orangy fur on his cheeks? Or what about those big glossy eyes? Though, that was probably from his little tantrum earlier.

They let their hands return to their sides, and were about to make some small talk when a blundering spherical robot rushed up to Little Cato, completely ignoring his personal space. “HEYA KIDDO!”, the mechanical menace cheered excitedly in Cato’s face. The yellow cyclops raised two pairs of pinchers to squeeze the boy’s cheeks. Cato pushed the offender away, embarrassed. “Aren’t you glad to meet me? I’m sure glad to meet you, Small Cato! Allow me to introduce myself, I am the great K-”

“KVN!”, Gary hissed through gritted teeth. “Stop messing with Cato, and especially don't touch him with your filthy hands! You destroy everything you touch, and I won’t allow you to break our new crewmate!” He began to shield Cato with his robot-arm. Avocato and Quinn just spectated with amused expressions.

Due to selective hearing, KVN failed to register almost everything Gary said except for one word; “Our?”. He girlishly shook his fists in front of his giant eye. Gary just sneered at him. Quinn rolled her eyes. Mooncake figured that he might as well follow the scorched robot’s lead and introduce himself. So, he bobbled over to smaller version of Avocato and nudge his shoulder (well, it was more of a soft headbutt).

“Chookity.”

“Choo-kity?”

Mooncake wiggled his green nubs and antennae. The corner of Little Cato’s mouth twitched upwards. “Nice to meet you too, Chookity”. Immediately, Gary burst out laughing. Cato pursed his lips together while he wondered what was so funny.

The man in the red infinity guard suit collected himself, and patted Cato’s shoulder, “That’s Mooncake. ‘Chookity’ is just one of the things he says. He could only make a few noises, actually.” Little Cato “oh-ed”, and rubbed his arm absentmindedly. “He’s a pretty cool guy, but I bet you’d never take him to be a weapon of awesome mass destruction!”. 

Now Little Cato was really confused. “What?”

“Right? The Lord Commander’s been after him non-stop. Apparently he’s the key to ‘Final Space’, or whatever. We’ve been keeping him safe here in the Galaxy One, which is why we’re all considered fugitives. Right now we’re on our way to fix an interdimensional rift. Heh, your Dad insisted that we make a quick pit-stop to rescue you, short stack.”

Quinn could tell that it was too much at once for Little Cato; the whites of his eyes had expanded and he hadn’t blinked in a while. “Gary, we should all get settled before we explain our situation to Little Cato”. The whole group had formed a loose ring around the kit, and he was starting to feel claustrophobic. The feeling was not too strange for Little Cato, since he’d lived a good portion of his life inside a prison cell, but it felt wrong considering to wide space of the hangar bay. 

“I would suggest a visit to the medical bay for all of you who were just out. That was a dangerous rescue”

Avocato ruffled his son’s hair, making a mess of the mohawk. “That’s a great idea, H.U.E.”

“H.U.E.?”

“Yes? Oh, Little Cato. I am the artificial intelligence of the Galaxy One, officially known as the Heuristic Unified Entity. But yes, you may call me H.U.E.”

“Cool”

With that Avocato started for the corridor door that was near the interior balcony. “C’mon Little Cato, I wanna get you checked out. Just a couple scans to check your vitals." Becoming very anxious without his father’s close presence, the boy followed him. Gary, Mooncake, and Quinn went after. Quinn did, if only to leave the cargo bay area. The Catos and Gary (accompanied by his green, floaty alien of course!) went up the transport tube to the med bay floor. Quinn headed off to the bridge, probably to go back planning a way to fix the rift. 

Inside the white, clinical walls of the med bay Gary couldn't stop chuckling. Avocato fussed over his boy so much! Even though the kit was relatively uninjured, Avocato kept prodding him with weird instruments that Gary didn’t know the function of. One whirred to life, and caused Little Cato to tense up as he sat on the electric bed.

“Dad, I’m fine! None of this is really necessary.” He was blushing under his fur. He hadn’t received so much positive attention in a long time. It felt weird to have someone worry over him.

“I’m not taking any chances. The Lord Commander already snuck a bomb on board...on you.” Avocato paused, touching foreheads with his son. “I won’t risk losing you again, I’m not letting him get away with anymore tricks, Cato”. He leaned back and examined his son. “How ya feeling?”

“Violated”, Little Cato replied serious, but began to giggle after a moment. Avocato jokingly shook his head in disapproval. “That’s my boy”. He turned to Gary who’d been goofing with Mooncake. “That’s my boy...”, he was beginning to crack. Was this real? Did he not have to worry if his child was locked away in some hell-hole? All theses questions ceased as he felt two arms (one of which he’d surgically attached) wrap around his armour-cuffed shoulders and pull him into a comforting hug. The cat-man barely noticed how watery his eyes had become, or how Mooncake had gone to rest in Little Cato’s lap.

Gary pulled back to see Avocato’s tired face, “Hey man, we did it. No undersized overlord is going to control you, or your kid anymore”. Gary smirked, “Besides, we totally kicked his butt. Like, he must have a really bruised butt right now.” Little Cato giggled again. He felt like a kid for once.

Avocato looked around the room, no longer in disbelief. He could sense it all now; Gary’s soothing warmth, his son’s boyish laughter, he could even smell the disinfectant that he’d applied earlier. Avocato gently let go of Gary and turned to his son, who’s eyes grew with expectancy. He kneeled to meet those big eyes, and held his son by his tiny shoulders. “Cato, as excited as I am for today... I’m even more excited for tomorrow”. 

“Yeah, Dad.” And the room was lit with glowing smiles.


	2. Cat-Sitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place the same day that Little Cato is rescued. This picks up pretty much exactly where the last chapter left off. Little Cato gets to hang out with Gary, yay!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took way longer than I intended for it too. :P
> 
> But it I did it for Little Cato.

The three of them left the med bay feeling a tad better than before, not because of the healing creams or the band-aids (okay maybe just a little bit due to those things), but because they had found some resolve together; an unspoken agreement to look after one another. Health-wise Gary and Avocato were okay; as adults they could endure a lot of physical punishment. Gary barely complained about the bodily injuries that were inflicted upon him by the Lord Commander. Avocato experienced some minor pain on account of his formerly possessed son. Overall, they were in good shape.

Little Cato was a different story. The boy wasn’t exactly in critical condition, but he was slightly underweight, and a bit beat up. This began to eat at Avocato’s mind as he walked through the ships corridors. His brows knit together at the thought of Lord Commander, or some douchebag henchman of his teasing Little Cato with a steamy, mouth-watering slab of cooked meat, only to chuck it out the window, and smash the plate in front of him. Only someone truly wicked would deprive his boy of a basic necessity such as food. And the bruises; they weren't visible through Little Cato’s dulled coat of tangerine fur, but Avocato knew that they were there. He felt how his son tried not to wince during the examination. A squiggly black cloud began to hover over Avocato.

Thankfully, Gary was there to the interrupt these dark thoughts, “Are you doing okay Avocato? You look like you want to murder someone. I mean, you look waaay more murdery than usual.”

That snapped him out of it. “Hm?”. He was pretty sure that his friend asked him something. “It’s nothing...I’m feeling gassed out.”, he wasn’t really lying about that.

“Why don’t you get some rest? I’m not tired. As a matter of fact, I’m too hyped, since we have a new friend on board! I could show Little Cato around the ship, no biggie.”

“You don’t have to do tha-”

“Please, Avocato? Oh, pretty please with psychedelic street candy on top? ”. Avocato almost laughed. Almost.

“You guys know that I’m right here, right?”, Little Cato huffed in annoyance. He walked between the two adults until the trio (and Mooncake who trailed behind them) stopped near the transport tube at the end of the hallway. Little Cato looked up between Gary and Avocato, becoming fully aware of his own lack of height. He eagerly awaited his father’s response, ears twitching like satellite dishes. 

Avocato had planned to help his son get settled in a room before anything else, but after thinking about Little Cato’s thinness, the cat-dad desired nothing more than to see his boy grin with a full belly. He was about to reject Gary’s offer in favor of taking Little Cato himself, but another horrible thought entered his mind; what if the Lord Commander had planted something else on the ship? 

“Umm, Earth to Avocato?”, Gary waved a hand in front of Avocato’s face, grazing his whiskers. “Broseph?”

“Okay...Gary, you can take Little Cato for a short while. I have to do something, but then I’ll be right back.”

Before the eccentric spaceman could squeal in triumph, he was grounded by a firm paw on his shoulder. “I appreciate it, bud.” Avocato looked at Gary with a friendly fondness, then pointed to the smaller cat, “Make sure he eats something, and not that prison gruel that H.U.E serves you...I’m sure Cato’s already had enough of that.”

“No problem, amigo! You could count on me. Your boy will feast upon only the finest delicacies that the Galaxy One has to offer.”

“Are you guys done talking about me yet?”, the yellow- shirted kit scuffed the ground with his bulky, black boot. Little Cato hated how his his father and Gary spoke as though he could not understand them. It reminded him of the obnoxious guards who used to stand outside his cell.

Avocato turned to his pouty kid, and gave him a toothy smirk. “I’ll be in the bridge if you need me, Cato. Be good, and don’t give Gary too much trouble.” Then he stepped in the transport tube, leaving Gary, Little Cato, and Mooncake. The cat-dad felt a ping of guilt about leaving his son only minutes after getting him back. However, he thought that it shouldn't take too long to check the ship analytics. 

Seeing the tip of Avocato’s tail disappear from the transport tube, Gary stepped a foot in and motioned for Little Cato to follow. “C’mon L.C, let's go to the commissary! I’ll fix you up something real tasty, something to really wow your tastebuds, something to suffice your neglected flavor sensors, something to-”

“I’ll be a skeleton by the time you finish”, the kit pushed Gary in, effectively ending his ramblings. Mooncake ‘woah’ed with perky antennae and floated after the two beings who had made their way to commissary.

Walking past the leisure room with Gary, Little Cato caught sight of an arcade game: ‘Crap Attack’. Immediately the boy waltzed over and started a game. “Woah. I haven't’ played anything this retro since I was little!”

“You are little.”

“Little-er.” The kit proceeded to press buttons and squint at the on-screen-car in deep focus.

“So, uh, aren’t you hungry?”, Gary pointed a thumb towards the commissary.

The kit’s fingers froze as a memory resurfaced; “Aren’t you hungry?” The Lord Commander sneered, while his hologram loomed over a slightly younger Little Cato. A chipped bowl of...something was shoved into the young cat’s hands by a humongus, one-eyed alien who worn several pieces body gear and a cape. 

“P-piss off.” Little Cato hissed. He mentally scolded himself for letting his anxiety show. He choked as the aroma of sewage and sickness wafted toward his nose. He dropped the bowl, and watched it crash; the grey goop splattered across his boots and the floor, revealing squirmy creatures and… eyeballs? Little Cato scowled at the evil, oval-headed Tic-Tac, “I’ll escape, or my Dad will rescue me before I become hungry enough to even think of touching tha-that mess!”

The Lord Commander chuckled darkly, his eyes alight. “That traitor will never find you, child. This is your first night here, so I’ll be generous enough to excuse your bad table manners.” He grinned, showing off his razor-sharp teeth. “That’s just me though, I think you hurt my pet’s feelings.”. Then there was sharp pain in Little Cato’s stomach as the caped creature sucker punched him. Hard. Very, painfully hard. The kit doubled over onto the ground and wrapped his arms around himself. Hot tears brimmed at the edge of his squeezed eyes. Lord Commander’s scratchy voice became distant. Little Cato had barely heard him order the beast to return to his regular duties, or heard the hologram fizzle out. The child cried, hurting from both bodily pain and emotional turmoil. 

“D-dad…”, he whimpered before passing out.

 

Gary panicked a bit. Had he said something wrong? He only asked if the boy was hungry, so why was Little Cato crying? He held the cat-child, who’d taken to fisting the cloth on Gary’s chest. The spaceman was confused, but he tried to comfort Little Cato with slow rubs on the back, and pets on his scruffy, mowaked head. Nothing seemed to be working. Mooncake even tried to stop the kit’s tears with nubby hugs and funny babbles, but to no avail.

And that is when KVN decided it would be the best time barge in. The hover bot entered the leisure room and spotted his self-proclaimed ‘best friend’ and the droopy eared feline. He zoomed over, oblivious to the meltdown currently taking place.

“WOW! You guys decided to have a cuddle-party without me?!”

“Get out of her KVN, can’t you see that I’m trying to-!”

Then KVN lifted the three bodies and squashed them against his cold, titanium body. “Man, you guys are a riot!”. A bark of protest erupted from the emerald alien that was Gary’s friend.

An omnipresent A.I. had been watching this scene play out in what he could only equate to extreme human queasiness. It decided that the time to intervene was either now or never. 

“Yo, KVN.”, H.U.E.’s monotone voice started.

“Wha? Oh, hey H.U.E! Were you not invited?? That’s a bummer!”, KVN snickered.

“I thought I should inform of a happening in the med bay.”

“A..HAPPENING?!”

“Yes. Nearly all the S.A.M.E.S are there, and Beth Two is acting quite provocatively.”

KVN’s pupil formed a digital heart-shape, as he shrieked ‘Beth Two!’ in awe, and let go of his hostages. The love-stricken machine zoomed away towards the med bay without further convincing. 

After flopping to the ground, Gary picked up the now sniffling Little Cato. Said child clung to the astronaut, almost choking him with thin, furry arms which wrapped around Gary’s neck. Gary supported Little Catos weight by holding the boy’s upper legs. 

“Thanks, H.U.E.”

“No problem, Gary”

Gary sighed. This was a mess. Avocato had trusted him to watch his son for what he assumed was meant to be just a couple minutes, but he couldn't do that without causing the kit to go into a full on panic attack. He had no idea how to defuse the situation. He went over to the booth closest to ‘Crap Attack’ and sat down, defeated, with Little Cato in his lap. Mooncake, the tiny thing, cooed sadly near Gary’s head.

“Aw man, Little Cato...what happened?”. The yellow-haired man was mostly asking himself, so he was surprised when the boy responded.

The feline removed his small snout from under Gary’s chin, so he wouldn’t sound muffled. “I-I…”. He was too mortified to continue. Little Cato was being babied by a guy he barely knew. Shame radiated from the kit’s body; he felt bad for nearly giving Gary a heart attack. This guilt was made exceptionally worse, as Little Cato remembered that this was the man who had helped break him out of the Lord Commander’s prison. “Gary, it wasn’t you. I, uh, I haven’t had a good dining experience in a while…really bad service.”

“Prison food, huh?”

“Yep…”, he shifted in Gary’s lap, arms loosening from his neck.

“Prison life sucks, dude, it sucks hard. I mean, I’m a hundred percent sure you’ve had it a lot worse than I have, but solitary and prison sludge are no joke.”

“You’ve been to prison?”

Little Cato wasn’t expecting Gary’s hack of laughter. It caused the cat-boy to jump in his lap. “Oh, man, Lil’ C!” He rubbed the boy’s arm. “This ship is my prison. Well, for at least like another week anyway. I’ve been stuck here fixing satellite dishes for five years! I was alone until I bumped into this cool guy-” he nodded to Mooncake, who closed his eyes sweetly, “and your Dad, who tried to shoot my face off.”

The kitten tilted his head in confusion.

“He was trying to capture Mooncake for the Lord Commander-”

“To get me back...”, Little Cato looked away, focusing on the deep expanse of nothingness through the window. 

“Of course, he’d do anything for you!”. Gary cupped Little Cato’s fluffy cheek, making them face each other. “You’re all he talks about, Lil’ C. You should see the way he lights up. He told me about how much you love to work on tech and gadgets. He called you his little hacker!”

Little Cato gazed at Gary, becoming very glossy eyed once again. This guy had risked his life to save him. Not only that, but he’d done the not-so-easy task of befriending his father. Gary was quickly becoming his favorite person besides Avocato. “Thank you.”

“Anytime, small fry.”

They stilled a moment, allowing a comfortable silence to settle over them like a warm blanket. They watched as CARL casually plodded by, entering the commissary with a broom. Mooncake started to doze off, blinking slowly.

Little Cato broke the silence, “I think that Dad is taking longer than a ‘short while’ doing whatever he’s doing.”

“He does that a lot… did you wanna go see him?”

“He said he’d be in the bridge. I don’t really know my way around the ship though.”

Gary lifted the child, rising from the booth with only slight difficulty.

“You can put me down now, I can walk.”

“Awww, okay…”. The spaceman reluctantly placed the cub down. “Let’s dip before KVN comes back. That frickin’ butthole!”

Little Cato didn’t understand Gary’s apparent deep-rooted hatred of the robot, but he decided that it’d probably be best not to dwell on it. He and Mooncake followed Gary up the transport tube, taking note of all the tallied ‘Mondays’ marked upon the walls. They exited and entered what must’ve been the bridge, cause that’s where an older cat person could be seen. He was talking to Quinn near the holographic maps. Avocato listened to her with his lips pressed in a firm line, not meanly, but in deep contemplation.

Hearing the doors slide open, both turned to face the three intruders. Avocato’s features softened when he saw his cub, and Gary, who was always a welcome presence. Quinn remained mostly stone-faced, but she did greet them with a small smile and a ‘Hey guys’.

“I’m not interrupting a super-secret plot to murder me, am I?’, Gary half-joked. He felt out of place for some reason, like an intern at a board meeting.

This feeling dissipated as Avocato teased him back, “We’d never dream of it, Captain”. The smug look on the feline’s face was enough to make Gary spawn a faint blush. Gary ignored it, giving his bestie a shit-eating grin in return .

Little Cato waltzed up to his father, his orangey tail swishing lightly as a display of contentedness around him. “Hey, Pops, what’s been takin’ ya so long?”

“We’ve been brainstorming plans to close the breach to Final Space.”, Quinn stated matter-of-factly. “Nothing seems viable.”, although she didn’t let it show, dissatisfaction strained her soul. 

“How about a coffee break?”, Gary suggested. His green alien hummed in agreement.

The sky-blue clad female quirked a considerate eyebrow then responded, “Sure, I wouldn’t mind some caffeine-induced energy.” She was tired, and her yellow headband was getting itchy.

“Pa?”

“Yeah, I could use a quick pick-me-up.” 

The group left to the commissary, where H.U.E had begun to brew some coffee.

In the commissary, Avocato awaited his cup of the fresh, hot, brownish liquid. He and Gary had to wait for a second pitcher to be made, since Quinn had the nerve to claim one to herself. She had poured all the contents of the first pitcher into a tall travel mug; she reasoned that she ‘needed it more than you fools’, because she’d ‘been up for 36 hours trying to stop the breach’. Even more so, the woman took her coffee black: no cream, no sugar. Avocato felt attacked, like his masculinity might just shatter into a million squealing pieces. Even he enjoyed a bit of sweetness to his morning beverage (it wasn't actually morning, but in space morning is whenever H.U.E annonces it so). So he angrily waited at the commissary table beside his blonde companion.

Gary wasn’t the least bit offended, he’d laughed it off. He had watched fondly as Quinn sauntered into the leisure room, taking a booth seat across from Little Cato and Mooncake. He saw when Quinn offered the boy a sip, and how she giggled when Little Cato tried to maintain a polite smile, even though he cleary disliked the bitter taste of the two-ingredient concoction of water and coffee grounds. 

Gary hummed in his seat as a stream of brown-liquid began to fill the coffee pitcher. This felt normal. It felt right. Gary was almost convinced that he had a family again. Everything about the situation was domestic: the morning aroma, the laughter in the background, and the fact that he and Avocato were chillin at the dinner table. Gary’s daydreams ended when he felt someone nudge his shoulder. “Yes, Avo-cat-o?”

The broad-chested cat-man looked at Gary with uncertainty and was uncharacteristically hesitant to speak. Gary wanted to wipe away the worry lines that had surfaced in the white fur of Avocato’s forehead. Was Avocato still thinking about the bomb-incident?

“Ehh, about the bomb…”

Crap, he was! Was Avocato still mad at himself? What if he was mad at Gary? Gary frowned. He wouldn’t blame Avocato; Gary was at the bottom of the tether. He should have seen the destructive device attached to Little Cato.

“I went to the bridge to check the ship’s surveillance and run some tests. I wanted to take precautions and make sure the Lord Commander hadn’t pulled anymore dick-moves.”

“Oh?”. Gary was somewhat relieved. He shuffled in his seat.

“I didn’t, though. Quinn already had by the time I got there.” Avocato scratched his chin, aloof. “So we started talking about Little Cato. About safety, what’s best for him. Adult stuff. Quinn showed me some hideout planets that followed the course to the breach, but I don’t trust any of them after what happened on Yarno.” 

Gary look at the the table, avoiding Avocato’s eyes. “I-I’m sure you’ll find some place where you and Little Cato could live happy…”. The prisoner’s heart was slowly deflating. “I’ve already found a place, Gary.”

“That’s fan-freakin-tastic!” the man pretended to celebrate. “Where, uh, where is it?”

“We’re sitting in ‘it’, you screwball. Have you seriously not caught on to what I’m trying to ask you???”. Avocato’s tail flicked in mild frustration. 

The screwball took a moment to process Avocato’s words. “Are you asking to live here with Little Cato? Cause you already live here, Avo, so it’s not like you have to ask. Ya know, if that is what you mean..”

The Ventrexian balked at Gary’s acceptance. “You really wouldn’t mind us staying here in the Galaxy One? I’m not one to ask favors, Gary. I want Cato and I to stay with you and Quinn, because we’re safer, err, stronger together. It’s a lot smarter to stick together, rather than split up and get picked off one-by-one by you-know-who.”

A gloved hand squeezed Avocato’s larger, furry one. “Yesh!”, Gary laughed. “Okay, pussycat, you’ve convinced me. Now let’s get some coffee before Quin swoops it.” He then dragged a flustered Avocato to the brew machine. 

After filling their respective mugs, the pair met Quinn, Little Cato, and Mooncake in the leisure room. Bodies filled the booth and a very informative conversation about the breach begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ship Garycato, but I don't want my stories to be too ship-centric. What'd y'all think??  
> I think H.U.E deserves an award for being the best parent/hostage negotiator.  
> I also should have slept more...  
> Anyway, thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> I've rewatched the ending scene of episode six sooooooo many times looking for any anti-Avocato death loopholes. I saw that there were a bunch of the S.A.M.E bots just hanging around, so I thought that they could be useful...
> 
> This is my first fan-fic, but I think that it turned out really well. Thoughts? I'd appreciate any comments, or suggestions.  
> Thanks for reading!


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